2026/07/07 by Silvia Sanchez Diaz, Brent Metz · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · Environmental Science · #Historical Studies in Central America #Politics and Society in Latin America #Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management
paper · doi:10.1080/00187259.2026.2685534
openalex publication_date 2026/07/07 · openalex created_date 2026/07/08 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/09
In this article, we examine how local development workers confront the contradictions of daily development practice in the Ch’orti’ region of Guatemala. Following a history of state neglect, unequal ethnic relations, and uncoordinated international cooperation, local development specialists are immersed in a bureaucratic culture where distant donors establish project expectations and local routines. While local development experts are formally encouraged to understand Ch’orti’ realities, in practice they feel constrained by both donor and Ch’orti’ modus operandi. A climate of competition exists between NGOs working for the same objectives in the same communities, and development workers are frustrated that Ch’orti’s hold on to subsistence agriculture and reject new forms of social organization. Our research suggests that development is best understood as a site of tension and contradiction where top-down priorities are negotiated vis-à-vis local needs.